The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 8 : § 1. 31-32

Chapter 8 : The Seventh Star or Splendour in the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God

Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr François Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

Mary’s soul was unique in being totally free of any sin

§ 1. The MOTHER OF GOD was exempt from original sin

How opposition to the Immaculate Conception caused its glory to increase

 31   In my wish to avoid any confusion and to complete the discussion we began about the Feast of the Conception, I have passed over several memorable things which would enable us to see that through the centuries the Church’s judgement concerning the purity of this same Conception has not changed – which is what I proposed at the outset. So to pick up where we left off, I was saying that nearly eleven hundred years had passed and not one person could be found from these distant times who had spoken against the honour of the most pure Conception. In fact the opposite was the case since in every century those most renowned for their holiness and their teaching had lent their authority to it and St Anselm had been the first to go against it openly – although he more than made amends for doing so, as I explained earlier. This great servant of God and His Mother, who was Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of England, lived towards the end of the eleventh century, around the year 1080. The celebration of the immaculate Conception at this time was winning acceptance in countries throughout the whole of Christendom and the effect of this novelty was to arouse the curiosity of certain Doctors who decided in good faith that the time had come for a discussion of the subject. There was no shortage at this time of great men who came forward to counter what others were saying about the holiness of Mary’s Conception.

 32   It should be noted that in these first centuries when doubts began to be expressed openly regarding this celebration, those who are reported to have been the most passionate in their disavowal were amongst the most zealous and the most ardent of the Holy Virgin’s servants. I say reported to have been, because I need to investigate later in the discussion whether everything said of them is worthy of credence. They included in the twelfth century two Abbots distinguished for their teaching and devotion, one was Rupert[1] and the other was St Bernard[2]. In the thirteenth century, we have Alexander of Hales, master of St Thomas; and St Albert the Great whose influence over the other minds in his time was so great that the weight of his authority convinced the first University in the world (I am referring to the one in Paris and the venerable Sorbonne, alma mater of the finest minds) to issue a decree[3] in opposition to the immaculate Conception – even though others are of the opinion that they were induced to do this by St Bernard. Soon after this came St Thomas, the Angelic Doctor who owed all that he was to the MOTHER OF GOD, no more nor less than Albert the Great his master and St Bonaventure owed the wondrous sweetness, understanding and love they had for the Virgin. In the fifteenth century we have St Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence. I shall make no mention of the others who came after approval for the Feast issued forth from the Chair of St Peter like a flash of lightning. As far as the above-mentioned names are concerned, people may find their opposition surprising but I would say that even if it is true that they held this opinion (about which I am by no means certain), they were true children of the Church and also of Our Lady. As such, they would prefer to follow rather than to anticipate the Church in Rome. I am moreover persuaded that all this was led and directed by the Blessed MOTHER OF GOD. She is the Mother of gentleness and the enemy of all that is malign; she understood moreover that her Son willed that the truth should be absolutely clear in His Church. Accordingly, she permitted these attacks on the part of her own children for they arose from good-hearted intentions. Indeed, they would help to ensure the truth would eventually come to have pride of place and there would be no question of God taking offence at their opposition. It is also possible that she permitted this so that the question could be more fully examined when her best friends in a certain sense took the opposing side against her. This was to ensure that they would be won over by the truth which would then be placed beyond doubt for posterity. 

Footnotes

[1] Lib. I in Cant., in illud : Meliora sunt ubera tua vino.

[2] Epist. citata ad Lugdun., et alibi.

[3] Albertus, in III, dist. 3, q. 1, art. 2.

.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam. 

© Peter Bloor 2024

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 8 : § 1. 29-30

Chapter 8 : The Seventh Star or Splendour in the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God

Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr François Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

Mary’s soul was unique in being totally free of any sin

§ 1. The MOTHER OF GOD was exempt from original sin

The opposition of St Bernard to this solemnity and its subsequent history around the world

 29   In this way the devotion gained a foothold almost everywhere, but notably in France on account of the special veneration shown there for the MOTHER OF GOD throughout history. Already, the principal Churches were celebrating the Feast of the Conception with great solemnity when around the year 1130 God allowed one of the Holy Virgin’s great favourites to raise objections. This was the pious St Bernard who wrote a letter with great ardour to the Church in Lyon which enjoyed primatial status among the Gauls. In this he remonstrated with the noble Clergy for undertaking to celebrate the solemnity of this Feast without the approval of the Holy See. I do not actually know what effect St Bernard’s remonstration had but I can tell you that the devotion of the Christian faithful grew so much that Pope Sixtus IV, anxious to remove any future scruple about celebrating this same Feast and desirous moreover of declaring unambiguously the thinking of the Church, issued a Bull in the year 1476. In it he exhorted all the Faithful to celebrate the Feast from that date onward and made a most liberal grant of Indulgences from the Church’s treasury to all who celebrated the solemnity. 

Now there were some who placed a particular interpretation on the Papal Bull’s wording and taught that it referred to the sanctification of the MOTHER OF GOD not at the moment of her conception but soon afterwards. To remove any doubts, the Pope used his Apostolic authority again and issued a third Bull[1] (for the second had been purely pastoral in scope) in which he pronounced the sentence of excommunication against all those who in future would give such an interpretation to the word Conception. Some time later, this same Pope confirmed two Offices of the immaculate Conception, and granted beautiful indulgences to those using them. One of the Offices was composed by  Léonard de Nogueroles and the other by Bernardino de' Busti (mentioned above), as appears from the Bulls issued to this effect. As a result of an excessive number of similar Offices, Pope Pius V found it necessary to recall the ancient custom and order the exclusive use in Church of the Office of the Nativity of Our Lady, but substituting the word Conception for Nativity.

It would be a waste of effort, in my opinion, to seek to demonstrate how God blessed the holy intentions of this good Pope since experience shows the esteem throughout the world for this Feast continues to grow daily more and more. In fact, all over Christendom in our own day it is one of the greatest Feasts of the whole year.

Footnotes

[1] Extat in fasciculo Minorum.

The origin of the Feast of the Conception in Spain

 30   There may be some who feel I have dwelled too long on this subject, but I would urge them to consider I did so in the belief that it offers the strongest proof of what we have been discussing. If the Church did not hold that the Conception of the MOTHER OF GOD was immaculate, she would never have undertaken to celebrate it with such rejoicing but, as St Ildephonsus once said[1], she would have called instead for tears to be wept on this day, and for it to be overshadowed in darkness. In the minds of several serious-minded doctors and holy personages, this is a powerful argument for proving through the Feast of the Nativity the sanctification of the Holy Virgin in her mother’s womb. This appears in the writings of St Ildephonsus[2], St Bernard[3], Albert the Great[4], St Thomas[5], St Bonaventure[6] and numerous others whose authority is respected and whose argument is compelling. As far as others are concerned, I might say in passing that I do not know what effect this Feast had on the impious heresiarch Luther but he expressed himself in words that were far from ambiguous saying that there were no feasts he loathed more than Corpus Christi and the Conception of Our Lady. This could scarcely be further from the view of the pious St Anselm[7] who declared unequivocally that this Feast takes precedence over all others since all the other feasts took their origin from it.

Footnotes

[1] Lib. de Virginitate Mariæ.

[2] Lib. de Virginitate Mariæ.

[3] Episl. 137 ad Canonic. Lugdun.

[4] In III, dist. 3, quibus adde Alensem, Richardum, Gabrielem, Capreolum, Paludanum, Gregorium, etc., ibidem.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Epist. cit.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam. 

© Peter Bloor 2024

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 8 : § 1. 27-28

Chapter 8 : The Seventh Star or Splendour in the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God

Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr François Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

Mary’s soul was unique in being totally free of any sin

§ 1. The MOTHER OF GOD was exempt from original sin

The origin of the Feast of the Conception in France

 27   Now, through their Norman kinsmen the French were aware of what had happened but God, who had long cherished their kingdom most tenderly, provided them with their own reason for honouring His Mother so as to follow the others. It seems this came to pass around the same time because St Anselm recounts the details in the same place. 

A French priest, he says, made his way out of his parish with a most sinful thought in his heart. He committed adultery in a neighbouring village and then started his journey home by boat on the river Seine. He was alone and began to recite the office of Our Lady as was his wont each day, for he had a special devotion towards the holy Virgin. He had scarcely begun when a band of demons attacked him. They capsized his boat, hurled him into the depths of the river and tore his soul from his body. They had been tormenting him brutally for some three days when the MOTHER OF GOD arrived on the scene. Through her intercession, she had already obtained the suspension of the poor man’s particular judgement and now she confronted the demons, demanding why they hade made so bold as to mistreat her servant. They replied that he had been seized while performing deeds worthy of death. The Mother of mercy replied that if this man’s soul belonged as of right to the person for whom he was performing deeds at the time of being seized, then it belonged unquestionably to her because he was reciting her Office when he was taken. After these few words from Mary, the devils disappeared and the MOTHER OF GOD remained, mistress of the field, along with the angels who accompanied her. Having delivered the prisoner from the eternal death he had deserved and having restored him to earthly life, she warned him in future to avoid such actions which were so displeasing to her, to keep the solemnity each year of the Feast of her Conception and to use his best endeavours to persuade others to do the same. When she had finished speaking, the Angels took him by the hands and raised him to his feet. The holy Mother of goodness made a passage for him in the middle of the river, so that the water was a wall on his right hand on his left[1]. Once he arrived safe and sound on the riverbank, she disappeared from view. This man did not know what he should say to Mary who had delivered him from his terrible fate; neither did he know what he should do in her honour. In the end, he resolved to withdraw to a small hermitage where every year, on the feast day of the Conception, he did everything in his power to honour the MOTHER OF GOD and to persuade all his visitors to the do the same.

Footnotes

[1] Cf. Exod. xiv. 22.

The origin of the Feast of the Conception in Spain

 28   I have held back until now from speaking of Spain because I was unsure as to when the event described by Bernardino de' Busti actually took place. He was a celebrated Doctor of the Order of St Francis and mentions the event in the text he composed for the Office of the Immaculate Conception which was approved by Pope Sixtus IV, as I shall show below. He recounts[1] how there was once in Toledo a Bishop called Gondisalve (or Goudisau) who had a most tender affection for the MOTHER OF GOD, so much so that she appeared to him every time he celebrated the holy Mass. It came to pass that, as he was preparing to say Mass on the very Feast day of her Conception, she came to him carrying a beautiful white chasuble and said to him : 

Be it known to thee, my son, that I was conceived without original sin; and I command thee, moreover, to spare no effort in ensuring the solemnity of my Feast is kept.

The Saint threw himself into this undertaking so ardently that he soon won over all Spain to this devotion, for which he composed an excellent Treatise. From this, we may conjecture that the event he recounts occurred before the year 800, at a time when the Goths still held Spain. During this period, Gaul of Narbonne maintained regular contact with Spain, as appears from the synodal acts which attest that the Bishops of the Gaulish province attended the Council of Toledo with the Prelates from Spain. When the Saracens occupied the country around the year 800, this flow of communication came to an end and after this time it would therefore have been difficult for Goudisau to have maintained the contact he previously had with the Spanish Prelates. If perchance I am mistaken in my present conjecture or in any I others I have mentioned, let me make clear that I am more than happy to give way to anyone with evidence for better suggestions

Footnotes

[1] Epist. cit.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam. 

© Peter Bloor 2024

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 8 : § 1. 25-26

Chapter 8 : The Seventh Star or Splendour in the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God

Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr François Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

Mary’s soul was unique in being totally free of any sin

§ 1. The MOTHER OF GOD was exempt from original sin

The origin of the Feast of the Conception in the East

 25   Around the same time, as we may safely suppose, this devotion arrived in the East. This most probably would have been facilitated by the excellent channels of communication they had with Italy. The rumours of what had happened to the Prince had spread widely for he was famous everywhere not only because of his noble extraction but also for his great holiness. God made particular use in this respect of the Emperor Leo who was known as Purple-born[1] and the Philosopher but he could also be called the Restorer of piety in the east. I shall have more to say later[2] about this pious Emperor whose reign began six years after the accession of Charles the Fat and ended when Charles the Simple was on the throne. He was a man of great learning and composed a beautiful prayer which is still read today[3]. He contributed everything he could to give honour to Our Lady and to promote the celebration of her Feast.

Footnotes

[1] Πορφυρογέννητος,  Latinized as Porphyrogenitus. 

[2] Tract. III, c. 4, § 6.

[3] Baron., ad Rom. Martyrol., 8 Decemb.

The origin of the Feast of the Conception in England

 26   Around one hundred and fifty years later, France and England adopted the same devotion. Here is an excerpt of what St Anselm has to say on this[1]:

The sins of the English were crying out to Heaven and God sent forth William, Duke of Normandy, to attack them. This he did with such a happy outcome that he made himself master of England which proved of great benefit to the English whose customs he reformed. At this time, the Norse and Danes[2] were still pressing their claim to the kingdom and, being unable to accept that a foreigner had seized it, they assembled a powerful fleet of ships to sail against the usurper. When William was warned of this, he promptly sent for the Abbot of the Monastery in Rheims to tell him what was happening. The Abbot was called Helsin[3] and he was himself English, being a man of spirit and reputed for his holiness. But the evil one did not fail to lay ambushes for Helsin. One of these was a tempest so violent that all on board his ship feared they were lost. God nevertheless turned this to His glory for, while those in the vessel were praying fervently to the MOTHER OF GOD for help, there appeared above them a venerable Prelate. It was in fact St Nicholas who explained to Helsin that he had come on behalf of the MOTHER OF GOD in order to promise him deliverance from the peril in which he found himself, provided only that he would celebrate the Feast of her immaculate Conception every year on the eighth day of December. Once the Abbot had expressed his most willing agreement to do this, the sea suddenly became calm and he later recounted in England what he had heard and seen.

It is easy to see how this incident would serve to revive English devotion to the MOTHER OF GOD and to honour her in this Feast. We should not underestimate blessed St Anselm’s contribution because thirty years later he wrote the beautiful Epistle I have already mentioned and which, in his capacity of Primate, he sent to all the Prelates in England. He makes a spirited call in this letter exhorting them to celebrate the Feast and saying (amongst other things) that anyone not keeping this day as a holiday could not be considered a worthy servant of Mary. Two English Councils later authorized the celebration of the Feast with even greater solemnity.

Footnotes

[1] Epist. cit.

[2] The author uses the word Transylvains, derived from Silvanus, a pagan deity presiding over woods. The reference must be to the Norse & Danish who were still largely pagan and were the only overseas threat at this time.

[3] Alii Elsinum, alii Elpinum vocant. Vide. Baron., Notis ad Rom. Martyrol., 8 Decemb. ; et Bo-sium, lib. V, c. 8.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam. 

© Peter Bloor 2024

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 8 : § 1. 23-24

Chapter 8 : The Seventh Star or Splendour in the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God

Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr François Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

Mary’s soul was unique in being totally free of any sin

§ 1. The MOTHER OF GOD was exempt from original sin

The fourth proof, based upon the authority of the universal Church

 23   We need to observe firstly that although God did not allow this truth to appear with such clarity and to be so widely shared in the Church from the beginning, there were nevertheless holy and irreproachable Doctors in every age who professed the truth publicly and bequeathed it to posterity. This is confirmed by very reputable authors[1] whose testimony may be found throughout the centuries. Anyone looking for the proof may easily find it in their writings.

I should say furthermore that nearly eleven centuries elapsed without a single Doctor (of those whose work has come down to us) holding or teaching the contrary. Regarding certain general statements made by some which could be read as suggesting the Blessed Virgin shared the same lot as others, I shall explain shortly how none of them is in fact prejudicial to our argument. Something which is striking and which adds powerful credence to St Bridget’s revelation is that the first person we find formally questioning the purity of the Virgin’s Conception and teaching the contrary is the glorious St Anselm[2], one of her most faithful and devoted servants. God’s providence, however, now made its appearance in a most particular way. Remember how St Thomas the Apostle originally doubted but later became a witness and preacher of the Lord’s Resurrection after he had learned the truth by seeing and touching the risen Lord, with great benefit to our faith. In the same way, St Anselm allowed himself to be carried away by a doubt which was understandable in his day; but, once he realized that the Church was already celebrating the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in a number of places, he not only gave his support to those honouring the Virgin in this way but he also called on the whole world to celebrate this Feast. He did this through a wonderful letter he addressed to the Bishops in England. The letter is relevant for anyone studying the origin and spread of this celebrated Feast and touches on many other matters worthy of note. Accordingly, it merits a fuller discussion.

Footnotes

[1] Coccius, t. I Thesauri, lib. III ; Salazar, lib. de Immaculata Conceptione, c. 42, etc. 

[2] Lib. II Cur Deus homo, c. 26.

The origin of the Feast of the Conception in Italy

 24   Lest those punctilious minds who delight in arguing any matter should be given any reason to reject with disdain what we have been saying about this, before anything else they should be made aware that a goodly number of Doctors[1] worthy of credence take a different view to them. We may note that, before the reformation of the Roman Breviary by Pope Pius V and his successors, all the Churches in Spain used to read it in the lessons of the feast of the Conception, as the Order of St Francis still does to this day. Furthermore, the Council held at Canterbury[2] in the year 1320 which was in a position to learn about it found no difficulty in accepting it. 

In his Epistle, St Anselm recounts something memorable which he says happened when King Charles held the sceptre of the French Monarchy. Now he says only that the name of the king was Charles but he does not specify which one. If we study the evidence and the dates we are obliged to say it must have been one of three kings, namely : Charles the Bald, Charles the Fat or Charles the Simple. Now these three reigns taken together cover a period of over sixty years. It follows that the incident St Anselm describes must have occurred between the year 840 when the reign of Charles the Bald began, and the year 892 when the reign of Charles the Simple ended.

St Anselm says that the brother of the King of Hungary (whom he does not however name) was a Cleric by profession but he was forced by pressure from his family to take in marriage a young lady of exceptional beauty. He was in fact wondrously devoted to the MOTHER OF GOD and he recited her Office every day. The day of his marriage arrived and after Mass and the giving of the nuptial blessing, he remembered that he had not discharged his daily duty to the Holy Virgin. With that thought in mind, he sent everyone away and stayed behind alone in the Church. He prostrated himself before the Altar of Our Lady and began to say his hours. When he came to the Antiphon which says[3]: Thou art beautiful, O my love, sweet and comely as Jerusalem, the glorious Virgin appeared to him. She was accompanied by two Angels, one holding her right hand, the other her left.

And so, she said to him, since thou dost declare I am beautiful, sweet and comely, why hast thou left me for another? In truth, am I not more beautiful than her for whom thou didst forsake me?

The Prince was at first astonished but regained his composure somewhat and replied :

It is indeed true, my Lady, that thy beauty and wondrous grace surpass anything imaginable. The Angels themselves come nowhere near. Since, however, this wrong hath been done, what way is there to repair it?

If thou hast the courage, responded the Virgin, to leave her for love of whom thou didst abandon me, thou wilt have me for thy spouse in Heaven; and if thou wilt celebrate each year the Feast of my immaculate Conception on the eighth day of December, taking care to encourage others to keep it, I promise thee a beautiful crown in the Kingdom of my Son.

With those words she disappeared and the Prince resolved to take himself off and hide for a time in a neighbouring Monastery. Shortly afterwards, under the guidance of the MOTHER OF GOD, he journeyed to Italy where he was eventually installed as Patriarch of Aquileia.  He never failed each year to celebrate the Feast in accordance with the request he had received. He kept the Feast with great pomp, added the solemnity of an Octave and never omitted to use his energies and influence so as to induce the majority of the Bishops in Italy to follow his example.

Now, in view of this person’s birth and rank, the solemnity of this most extraordinary Feast and the fact that this was taking place under the eyes of Rome, there can be no doubt that it was approved, or at least tolerated by the Holy See and this approval would have encouraged other Churches to do the same. The fame of this Holy Prelate having quickly spread everywhere, it is easy to believe that the faithful in Hungary who had learned what was happening were the first to embrace the new practice. What lends weight to this belief is that through all their history they have shown singular devotion to the service of Our Lady and that they maintain the Feast of the Conception is truly ancient among them. There seems to be a strong case for arguing that the learned Idiota[4] was influenced by what he saw in his day to write his beautiful Meditations wherein he speaks of the Immaculate Conception more explicitly than any of his predecessors, with the aim of stirring hearts everywhere to offer themselves in service to the Queen of Heaven.

Footnotes

[1] Henricus Gand., Bacconus, Thomas de Argentina, Capreolus, Paludanus, omnes in III. dist. 3 ; Gers., Serm. De Conceptione ; Bosius, lib. IX de Signis Ecclesiæ, c. 8 ; Baronius, Notis ad Rom. Mar-tyrolog., 8 Decemb.

[2] Cantatur a Joanne Baccono in quolib., lib. III, q. 13.

[3] Pulchra et decora filia Jerusalem. See None in Little Office. Thou art beautiful, O my love, sweet and comely as Jerusalem: terrible as an army set in array. Cant. vi.3.

[4] Nom de plume of Raymundus Jordanus. (14th c.)

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam. 

© Peter Bloor 2024

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 8 : § 1. 21-22

Chapter 8 : The Seventh Star or Splendour in the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God

Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr François Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

Mary’s soul was unique in being totally free of any sin

§ 1. The MOTHER OF GOD was exempt from original sin

The fourth proof, based upon the authority of the universal Church

 21   I have deliberately kept this proof last for those who may have been resistant in some way to the other proofs. Once they see this final proof arriving like a rear-guard in full battle array, they should no longer have any difficulty in yielding to reason. You will have the pleasure of seeing file after file of them coming from all points of the compass. These are valiant soldiers armed and specially equipped so as to form the principal force marching against the powers of hell. You will note that in every age are found these well-formed minds who are worthy of esteem for their holiness and their teaching and have gone into battle for this truth. You will be astonished to discover how the army they have formed has been continually reinforced through the ages up until our own time when we have the joy of seeing them marching victoriously under the banner of the Immaculate Conception. The officers and other ranks of this army form an elite force and are more numerous than the stars in the firmament. In order to keep my promise in a satisfying way for readers, I would urge you first of all to remember  it was not without good reason that the holy Virgin is compared in the Canticles[1] to Dawn, the Moon and the midday Sun. We may understand from these terms that the honour given to Mary by Holy Church had a beginning, a period of development and a finally a settled state. God’s providence has been most gentle and no less wise in the way it nurtures the majority of the truths of the Faith, especially the mystery of the Virgin’s Conception which we are discussing. I believe there are three main reasons why God wanted the truth of this mystery to be revealed using the image of the dawn of day, when the rising Sun imperceptibly chases away the darkness with its beauteous rays and little by little climbs higher until it reaches its high point at moon.

Footnotes

[1] Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array? Cant. vi. 9.

 22   The first of these three reasons is one routinely advanced by Theologians who argue as follows. The Church was not founded primarily on our Lady but on her Son, our Lord. Now, God goes before the Church enlightening her wonderfully from the everlasting hills, as the Prophet David sings[1]. It is therefore fitting that God, before anything else, should illuminate the fundamental truths of our salvation and that afterwards, in His abundant goodness, He should enable us to see clearly certain other truths. These other truths are less important than the fundamental ones but help our minds and hearts along the path of knowing Him better and loving Him more dearly.

St Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres[2], puts forward a second reason, saying it was not without design that in venerable antiquity people held back from developing and promulgating ideas about the purity of the Virgin’s conception. This was done for fear of allowing heretics to seize upon these ideas. They had already started with their chattering and were arguing haughtily that Our Lord had never had a real body like ours but only the appearance of one; and that Mary was not a woman but an Angel incarnate. They would have spoken much more boldly on this question if they had heard people speaking in their day as favourably of Mary as we do today. 

As for the third reason, we must recognize its importance since it was declared by our Lady herself to the Blessed Saint Bridget[3], a widow of great virtue, when she spoke as follows :

The truth is that I was conceived without original sin, but here is the reason why it was not made known to all from the outset : God willed that the law promulgated by my Son should not come before the natural law with its voluntary choice between good and evil, followed afterwards by the written law which clearly prescribed and ordered what should be done and what should not be done. In the same way, it pleased God’s will that His best friends should have doubts about the innocence of my Conception since by this means each person’s zeal would become apparent until the truth was finally revealed in its entirety.

The truthfulness of this revelation will become apparent by what I have to say further on this question.

Footnotes

[1] Ps. LXXV. 5.

[2] Serm. 2 de Ortu Virg.

[3] Lib. VI, c. 4.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam. 

© Peter Bloor 2024

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 8 : § 1.19-20

Chapter 8 : The Seventh Star or Splendour in the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God

Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr François Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

Mary’s soul was unique in being totally free of any sin

§ 1. The MOTHER OF GOD was exempt from original sin

The third proof, drawn from the nature of original sin

 19   St Thomas bases his second proof on the Son’s union with the Mother, from whom He takes His substance. This union (or rather unity) is so great that, granted the Son can have no part with Belial[1], then the same will be true (proportionately) of the Mother. This Holy Doctor is quite right for the Sages[2] and the law itself proclaim that children are to be considered with their father and mother as one person, having one voice, one body and one flesh, and that they are not separate[3]. Consider how the Son of God was closer to His Holy Mother than any other child; this being so, then He could not suffer her to be stained with original sin, for her very closeness would risk spreading the infection to Him in both his body and soul. Listen to the words of two excellent Doctors and hear what they have to say on this question. The first is Arnold of Chartres who declares[4]:

Jesus and Mary share the same flesh and also have the same spirit and love. This unity knows neither separation nor division. For even though two things may have been made one thing, this one thing is no longer considered to be divided after the union. From this it follows that, strictly speaking, it should not be said that the Son’s glory is shared with the Mother but rather that it is one and the same glory which belongs to them both undivided.

The other Doctor is St Anastasius Sinaita, Patriarch of Constantinople who writes as follows:[5]

Could anyone be found, either among men or among the demons, who would dare to say of her whose nature is the same as God’s nature in respect of the flesh that she was not made in the image and likeness of Him who was born of her? For how could she call herself His Mother if she were not marked in His image and if she were deficient in her likeness to Him?

Footnotes

[1] And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? II Corinthians vi.15.

[2] Tull. III Verr.

[3] Aristot. VIII Ethic.

[4] Lib. de Laudib. Virg.

[5] Lib. VI Anagogicarum questionum.

 20   I have only one more thing to say on the third proof which I have taken from the nature of original sin : we observe the presence of this sin by its effects, and so when we see no effects we are justified in presuming the absence of the cause from which they arise. 

Imagine that in winter we were to see a beautiful spring from which water bubbles and gushes forth in streams which spread throughout the countryside. Then we revisit the same place in summer and find the streams have dried up. How would we explain this other than by saying there must be no water in the spring since it has ceased to flow in the way it did previously? Now, original sin is like an evil spring and its poisonous waters have poured into the children of Adam, flooding and devastating all the faculties in souls, leaving nothing untouched. As we see no sign in the Holy Virgin of the devastation caused by this inundation everywhere else, may we not fairly conclude that the waters from this poisonous source came nowhere near her blessed soul?

We should indeed see Mary rather as the enclosed garden[1] where everything is pleasing to the eye and where the fragrant beauty of a delightful springtime is everywhere. Here you will find nothing that is dried out, wilting or de-natured; whereas in others you find nothing whole and healthy. I mean by this that you will see everywhere the beneficial effects that original grace produced long ago; but you will find in her no wounds from the serpent’s poisonous tooth, no rebellion in her members, no disorder in her faculties, no darkness in her spirit, no disarray in her affections, no corruption in her body, nothing shameful in her conception of the Divine Word, and none of the labour pains and mess of childbirth. What more may be said to convince doubting minds to yield to reason? 

Now if we can nevertheless notice in Mary certain effects that seem to be the result of original sin, such as bodily suffering and death, let us remember that her dear Son was Himself sinless and yet had to undergo both suffering and death to heal us from sin.  Richard of St Victor[2] writes appositely on this as follows :

 

Concerning the Virgin : if you see that she was not exempt from such things as pain and suffering, you must realize that she was most willing to accept these. In doing so, her crown was made more resplendent and she gave us an example of patience, by bearing with such rectitude the yoke of our common suffering.

Footnotes

[1] My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed [hortus conclusus], a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up.  Cant. iv. 12

[2] Lib. II de Emmanuele, c. 28.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam. 

© Peter Bloor 2024

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 8 : § 1. 17-18

Chapter 8 : The Seventh Star or Splendour in the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God

Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr François Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

Mary’s soul was unique in being totally free of any sin

§ 1. The MOTHER OF GOD was exempt from original sin

The third proof, drawn from the nature of original sin

 17   St Thomas bases his second proof on the Son’s union with the Mother, from whom He takes His substance. This union (or rather unity) is so great that, granted the Son can have no part with Belial[1], then the same will be true (proportionately) of the Mother. This Holy Doctor is quite right for the Sages[2] and the law itself proclaim that children are to be considered with their father and mother as one person, having one voice, one body and one flesh, and that they are not separate[3]. Consider how the Son of God was closer to His Holy Mother than any other child; this being so, then He could not suffer her to be stained with original sin, for her very closeness would risk spreading the infection to Him in both his body and soul. Listen to the words of two excellent Doctors and hear what they have to say on this question. The first is Arnold of Chartres who declares[4]:

Jesus and Mary share the same flesh and also have the same spirit and love. This unity knows neither separation nor division. For even though two things may have been made one thing, this one thing is no longer considered to be divided after the union. From this it follows that, strictly speaking, it should not be said that the Son’s glory is shared with the Mother but rather that it is one and the same glory which belongs to them both undivided.

The other Doctor is St Anastasius Sinaita, Patriarch of Constantinople who writes as follows:[5]

Could anyone be found, either among men or among the demons, who would dare to say of her whose nature is the same as God’s nature in respect of the flesh that she was not made in the image and likeness of Him who was born of her? For how could she call herself His Mother if she were not marked in His image and if she were deficient in her likeness to Him?

Footnotes

[1] And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? II Corinthians vi.15.

[2] Tull. III Verr.

[3] Aristot. VIII Ethic.

[4] Lib. de Laudib. Virg.

[5] Lib. VI Anagogicarum questionum.

 18   The third proof presented by St Thomas is based on the fact that God established His abode with Mary in a particular manner, for He did not simply possess her soul but He also filled her sacred womb and her body became His home. Now, Solomon proclaims loud and clear[1] that wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins. But what worse contamination could there be than that of original sin which ruins both body and soul, spreading through all their faculties, as I have shown earlier? From this, St Anselm[2] fittingly draws the following conclusion : no-one can doubt that the Virgin’s body most chaste and her soul most holy were protected from all stain whatsoever of sin; for they were to serve as an abode where God who created them and all things would dwell corporeally and wherein He was to unite man personally to Himself.

Footnotes

[1] Sap. i. 4.

[2] Lib. de Excellentia Virg.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam. 

© Peter Bloor 2024

The Crown of Excellence : Chapter 8 : § 1. 15-16

Chapter 8 : The Seventh Star or Splendour in the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God

Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr François Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

Mary’s soul was unique in being totally free of any sin

§ 1. The MOTHER OF GOD was exempt from original sin

The third proof, drawn from the nature of original sin

 15   Now that we have considered this imagery (of original sin) and the meaning of its symbolism, I pray dear Reader that you will come to a just conclusion in favour of the most sacred Virgin. Could you really imagine God would have allowed the Holy Mother’s soul to be possessed by a demon so furious as the one you have seen in the picture but whom you have not seen in reality? It is beyond my power to portray him as he really is.  

It is a truth confessed unanimously by the Holy Fathers and one for which all true children of the Church would be prepared to die : that Mary never committed a single, venial sin; this could not in any event have made her lose the good graces of God and her pre-eminent holiness, much less would it have made her subject to Satan’s tyranny. Could you really be persuaded that Mary contracted original sin which would have placed her in Hell’s servitude, made her worthy of the Creator’s wrath, would have rendered her a rogue and a vagabond and would in the end have condemned her to death, and to a death which is eternal?

For those who honour the MOTHER OF GOD, the very thought of how completely improper this would have been is enough to make their hearts tremble. Even if she were to have been restored to grace very quickly, she would always have been what I have just said : the beloved daughter of the Father, the Mother of the Son, the Spouse of the Holy Ghost, God’s Holy of Holies, the master-piece, the honour, the star of the world, the glory of Heaven and Earth.

Finally, to show you where this takes us, I should explain that learned and serious-minded Doctors[1] have found this so strange that they have had no hesitation in saying that if God were to have given Our Lady the choice of either being the MOTHER OF GOD or of being free from original sin, she would have set aside the latter gift despite its inestimable value and would have chosen to have God for her Son, so that she would never have had any part with Satan and would never have lived even for a single moment in God’s disfavour.

Footnotes

[1] Medina, Lib. de Oratione, q. 7, et Lib. de Poenitentia, q. 6 ; Antoninus Corduba, Lib. I q. Theo-log., q. 49.

 16   I honour the angelic Doctor from the bottom of my heart and with all my soul.  When I read the reasons he puts forward for supporting the Church’s conclusion that the MOTHER OF GOD was exempt from actual sin, I realized they apply even more powerfully to prove she had no part in original sin. His discussion of the subject includes four proofs. Here is the first[1]:

When God in His mercy chooses someone, He never fails to equip him with all that is necessary to achieve the result for which he was chosen. This is shown by the words of the Apostle[2], when he says: (Who) also hath made us fit ministers of the New Testament. Now the Blessed Virgin was chosen by the eternal God to be Mother of His Son. Accordingly, there can be no doubt that God made her in every way a worthy Mother of her Creator. But she would not have been worthy to be the Mother of God if she had ever sinned. First, because the honour of the parents reflects on the child, according to Solomon[3]: fathers and mothers are the glory of their children: and consequently, on the other hand, the Mother’s shame would have reflected on her Son.

Those are the words of St Thomas and either I am falling into error or it must be accepted that much more shame would have reflected on the Son of God if the Virgin had been stained by original sin. Now, in human laws there are crimes where a conviction does not affect the criminal’s children but there are also crimes where the reputation of the offspring is blackened, such as lèse-Majesté, heresy and such like. This is also the case in God’s law, so that in the case of actual sin (even if it is mortal), the son shall not bear the iniquity of his father[4]. It is, however, different in the case of original sin for there the malice is such that it passes down from father to son in such a way that no sooner does the father communicate nature to his son than the latter receives the shame and opprobrium of this sin. 

This led St Ildephonsus[5] to say that if the MOTHER OF GOD had bot been sanctified from the beginning, then her flesh would have been a sinner’s flesh and, as such, her Son Himself would not have been free from sin for He would have been united to sinful flesh. We should however show wisdom and great circumspection when considering this Saint’s opinion. He does not mean to say in absolute terms that if the MOTHER OF GOD had been stained by original sin then her Son would have partaken of it. The Son's own extraordinary birth exempted Him more than enough to avoid such a consequence, for His Divinity would have sanctified Him to the exclusion of all sin, even if His Mother had not done so. What  the Saint is actually saying is that it was reasonable not only for the Saviour to have been exempt by virtue of these two reasons but also for the transmission of sin that passes from father to son to have been halted in the person of His Mother. A long time before His own conception, His Mother’s sinlessness had in this way served as a barrier so that this original sin was not passed onwards. Accordingly, there could never be any doubt of Her Son’s innocence.

Footnotes

[1] III p., q. 27, art. 4.

[2] II Cor. iii.

[3] Prov. xvii. 6. 

[4] Ezech. xviii. 20.

[5] Lib. de Virginitate B. Mariæ.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam. 

© Peter Bloor 2024